Railroad-ticket.



G. H. GOSGROVE. RAILROAD TICKET.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 14, 1912.

1,061,821. Patented May13,1913.

DWH.

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SLN 3 'Ivsu aAlun UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTOPHER I-I. COSGROVE, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

RAILROAD-TICKET.

T 0 all whom t mag/concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER I-I. Cos-A Gnovn, citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad- Tickets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figure-s of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates particularly to improvements in railroad tickets.

Railroad tickets used at present, comprise certain data, including the names of the' stations, printed in duplicate columns, thel arrangement being such that the agent sell ing the ticket may employ a cutter to cut the ticket in two parts between the printed columns of stations to form an agents stub, and a ticket for the passenger. The cutter is so shaped that a tab on thestub is severed from the passengers ticket. This tab has on it the name of the station to indicate to the auditor the passengers destinatiom,

while .the recess formed in the passengers ticket indicates to the conductor or ticket collector that the passenger has transportadestination of the passenger, remains on the c tab, while the point of the recess on the passengers ticket is located between two adjacent stations of the column on the passengers ticket. The result is the passenger can claim that he purchased a ticket to a station many miles beyond the one his transportation was sold for, and trouble results with the conductor o-r ticket collector.

If the conductors report shows he al- Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Application led November 14, 1912.

Patented May 13, 1913.

Serial No. 731,351.

lowed the passenger to travel to the| farthest station, the auditor may charge agent accordingly, but the agent issuing the ticket may contend that it should have been honored only to nearest station, and the tab on the stub is no more definite in such an instance than the recess in passengers portion of ticket. This condition has given the railroad companies a great amountof trouble, and lends a chance to agents or others to appropriate money by claiming that the ticket was open to transportation to'one of two stations, they using this irregularity for their own use. f

My present invention aims to overcome all these objections, in that the names of the stations are so arranged as to preclude a misinterpretation of the intent of the ticket agent when the ticket was sold.

Therefore, the object of my present invention is to provide means which vwill clearly indicate on the stub and the sengers ticket the name of the station, so that no question as to the destination of the passenger can arise, and no grounds for differences between passenger, conductor, ticket collector, agent or auditors oiice can exist. To this end,I I print the names of the stations on the passengers ticket in suitably spaced relation, and the corresponding names of the stations in the column representing the stub are printed in duplicate, so that'even if the agent in severingthe passengers ticket from the stub should locate the cutter somewhat to one side of the eXact point,` the name of the station for which the ticket has been sold will in every instance appear in full on the tab, even though a portion of the name of the adjacent station should appear on the tab, it will be perfectly manifest that the. ticket was sold for the station indicated by the double printing on the stub.

The invention also relates to improvements in the particular location of the spacing of the columns of stations, so asto include in the body of the ticket datato indicate whether or not the ticket was sold to cover half fare,or special, or clergy.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is'a face view of my improved ticket, before the stub is severed. Fig. 2 is a similar view, the stub and passengers ticket being passevered. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portear. Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating a carelessly torn ticket. Fig. 5 is a view torn to illustrate the class of ticket.

l indicates a sheet having printed thereon two vertical lines 2 and 3 to provide three columns or spaces, 4, 5 and 6. The space 4, to the left of the vertical line 2, is for the agents stub, to be hereafter referred to as 7, while the remainder of the sheet to the right of the vertical line, when the stub is detached, will be the passengers ticket, hereafter referred to as 8. 'In the space 6, the usual contract and instructions, or other data will be printed, while in the column 5, between the vertical lines 2 and 3, will be printed the names of the stations` etc. Equally spaced lines 10, are located in the space 5, and extend from the vertical line 3, to approximately half way across said space. Below and spaced from the horizontal lines 10, and extending from about the middle of the space 5, to the vertical line 2, are horizontal lines 11. This arrangement o lines provides two rows of horizontal spaces, the spaces in one column being out of alinement with the spaces in the other column. In the right hand column of spaces, and under each horizontal line 10, is printed the name of a station, there being a blank between the station and the horizontal line below it to furnish ample latitude for placing the cutter to tea'r off the stub. Above and below each horizontal line 1l, of the left hand spaces, is printed the name of the station noted in the adjacent space in the right hand column of spaces. In other words, a station noted in the right hand column is printed in duplicate in the left hand column, the duplicate printing of a station being within a space formed by a continuation of two horizontal lines 10.

At the center of the sheet, the space between the horizontal lines is enlarged, as at 14, and printed therein in duplicate are the words Half-fare, Clergy, and Special, to indicate to the conducto-r, auditor or agent the character of the ticket, if the lfatter has been sold for other than the usual are.

It has been customary to print this data near the end of the ticket, so that when the stub is severed, it frequently happens that this data becomes mutilated, hence a passenger can take advantage of the conductor. But by printing the data at the point shown and described, this diiiiculty is entirely removed, and the conductor or auditor can see at a glance, at either passengers portion of ticket or agents stub, just what character of ticket has been issued.

In use, let it be supposed that a ticket is to beissued to China-Grove: the agent places the sheet 1 under a cutter of usual construction, and locates the point of the cutter approximately in a plane half way between two of the lines l0, forming the space in the left hand column in which the name of China-Grove station is printed, and then tears the ticket from the stub, as shown in Fig. 2. Then the stub is detached, it will have formed with it a tab 7X, and printed thereon in duplicate will be the name ot th-e station,-in this instance, China-Grove. No di'Hiculty will be experienced by the auditor in checking up the stub and the passengers ticket, for it will be seen at a glance that the ticket was sold to entitle the passenger to transportation to China-Grove. But let it be supposed that the ticket agent was careless in locating the cutter, or that in tearing the ticket the edges became irregular, as frequently occurs. My improvement is as et fective in determining the destination of a passenger, as if great care had been exercised in issuing the ticket.

In Fig. 3, I have illustrated a stub and ticket showing the irregular edges, but the cutter having been placed in the correct relative position with reference to the horizontal line. Under these circumstances, the name of the station for which the ticket was sold will prominently appear on t-he tab in duplicate, to clearly indicate to the auditor the destination of the passenger and it will also be clear to the conductor that the passenger was entitled to transportation to the station appearing next above, or opposite, the point in margin of the passengers ticket 8. The conductor knows this, not only from the location of the point of the recess, but from the fact that even considering the irregularity of the edges of said recess, it is evident that, since but a portion of the names of the adjacent stations have been torn (the instance shown being Sumner and Landis) the agent clearly intended the ticket to cover transportation to China- Grove. v

Now let it be supposed that the agent tore the ticket some distance from the point adjacent the station China-Groove, for insance, as indicated in Fig. 4. Even then, when the tab is of this irregular shape, and is torn from the point indicated, the auditor and the conductor can tell at a glance the destination of the passenger. The range of location of the tear in the ticket is such that as long as the cutter is located within the space formed between any two lines l0, the tab will show at least the major portion of the duplicate stations, and there will be no chance for a dispute with either the agent, auditor or the passenger.

By this improvement, there is no loophole open to the ticket agent, conductor, or others, to manipulate the ticket; neither is it possible for the passenger to make claim that the ticket was intended Jjor any other staton than the one for which the fare was pai In practical use, the railroad company saves a large sum of money, as every possible safeguard is provided, that accurate check can be kept on all parties who take part in the handling of the ticket.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a view of the sheet cut to indicate a half fare, the tab 50, o-n the stub being located adjacent this designation in the space formed between the columns of stations.

What I claim is:

l. 'A railroad ticket comprising a sheet designed to be torn to `provide a stub with an attached tab portion and a passengers ticket with a cooperating recess and which has printed' thereon two columns of names of stations, the respective names of the stations in the two columns being identical and next to each other, and being substantially in alinement, the names of the stations in one column being in duplicate one above the other on the stub portion, the identical names of the stations on the stub portion appearing on the passenger portion, whereby when the sheet is torn to form a stub provided with a tab, the duplicate names of a station to indicate the destination of the passenger will appear on the tab and a recess will be formed next to the name of the corresponding station on the passengers ticket.

2. A railroad ticket comprising a sheet designed to be torn to provide a stub with attached tab portions and' a passengers ticket with cooperating recesses, and which has printed thereon 'two columns of names of stations, the respective names of the stations in the two columns being identical and neXt to each other, and being substantially in alinement, the names of the stations in one column being in duplicate one above the other on the stub portion, the identical name of the stations on the stub portion appearing on the passenger portion, the two columns of ynames of stations being separated-to form a transverse space on-.the ticket portion between the upper portion of the two columns and the lower portion of said columns, and two columns of designations printed in the space to indicate the character of the ticket, the respective designation in said space being identical and next to each other, whereby when the sheet is torn to form a stub provided with tabs, the duplicate names of a station to indicate the destination of the passenger will appear on one tab and a recess will be formed neXt to the name of the corresponding station on passenger portion, and one of said tabs will bear a designation to indicate the character of the ticket, and the passenger portion will have a recess next to a designation identical with the designation on the last mentioned stub.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHRISTOPHER H. COSGROVE.

Witnesses:

R. CARSON Rose, W. H. HOWARD, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

